IGP-2009-16414

This investment supports the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to improve oral health and health conditions for Native Alaskans during the COVID-19 pandemic. ANTHC has dramatically expanded the Tribal Community Health Provider system over the past five decades. This health system was established for and by Alaska Native people, and develops a rural workforce to reduce and ultimately eliminate the health inequities Alaska Native people experience today. It also invests in programs to educate and produce tribal community health providers who serve Alaska Native people across the state, including those in remote villages. Despite their growth over the past several years, many communities still go without basic preventative health, especially dental healthcare. The Dental Health Aide Program was established in 2004 and offers multi-level career pathways and entry points for people to become dental providers and then go on to serve Alaska Native communities. ANTHC has been constructing a new Education and Development Center in Anchorage for their dental program, which will improve the quality of education, training, and collaboration for their program members, and improve access to dental services for Alaska Native communities. The intended outcomes of this new center include: an increased number of Tribal Community Health Providers and Dental Health Aides and Therapists in Alaska; improved quality of training for all TCHPs in Alaska; and increased healthcare services in communities. The Education and Development Center started construction in 2017, and has just recently finished. However, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the plans for the center. The original plan for the center obviously did not take any pandemic precautions into consideration, so even though the center has recently finished development, and will open in early 2021, it is unable to be used to its fullest extent because of the pandemic. ANTHC plans to update the air exchange in two dental rooms at the EDC. The upgrades would create two Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms, to improve access to dental care in a safe way during the pandemic, as well as foster a safe environment with infection control. This grant amount of $25,000 would go toward enacting these air control upgrades to their dental rooms so that the center can open safely and provide training for dental health workers and therefore provide increased access and services to Alaska Native communities.